Rant Time!

Okay kids, put your seatbelts on, it's Rant Time.



As you may or may not know, my wife and I make our living by teaching people how to train. We own a pair of gyms, we work in them full time and we are 2 of the 3 trainers that work in our clubs. Basically what I'm trying to say here is that my paycheck or lack thereof comes from me knowing about strength and fitness training (especially fat loss) and being able to help others achieve there physical goals.



I don't really have a good term or title to describe exactly what I do, but to the average Joe, I'm a personal trainer. BUT, I am not certified (like thats some glorious, godly thing) by any personal training company or organization. And let me tell you why.

When I first got into the business I had already been training myself for about 10 years. I had already competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting and was a pretty good student to the ways of the iron. I even had a client that I was training privately in his home 3 days per week for 6 months. Needless to say I knew a bit about training and nutrition and how to achieve success.

I looked into a few of the different companies that offered personal training certs and was horrified by what they had to offer. I did find one company that seemed to have it's shit together but they seemed to be out of business or not interested in new members because I never got a reply to any calls or emails.

One point that I want to make here before moving on is that personal training companies that offer certifications are just that, independant companies that offer certification courses on what they feel are the important skills and knowledge to be a personal trainer.

Just because you have a nice website and charge $400.oo for a weekend long certification course doesn't neccesarily mean you offer the best product.

I'll get the point here. I've come across a few individuals, that feel it neccesary to stop by my gyms or meet me in the street and want to look down there nose at our business because we are not certified. These people are often certified by one company in particular (rhymes with fan-bit) and are usually mortified that we answer their questions about certification with "I'm not certified by anyone".

This rant was fueled by one person in particular that recently came into our gym and inquired about some of our rates and training programs. The person then proceeded to tell us they were a 15 year veteran of personal training and were certified by a company that rhymes with fan-bit. The person then (as usual) inquired about our certs and had little to say about our answer.

Here's the question I have all you fuck tards with a fancy piece of paper with gold foil and your name on it from fan-bit. How many people have you trained? How many of them achieved their goals? If you are such an awesome personal trainer then why in hell aren't you making a living teaching others how to get fit?
If you want to feel high and mighty about your paper certification from the 2 day course you took about personal training, don't try me. From now on, I will be asking the hard questions.

My wife and I have been training clients for over 4 years. We started with nothing and built our business into something I'm very proud of. We did it without paying some companies bullshit fees to have a piece of paper on the wall. We did it with a lot of trial and error, a lot of reading, a lot of travelling to seminars, a lot of phone calls and emails to people who already had great success in the business. I've spent thousands of hours reading and studying training methods. I've logged thousands of hours in the gym trying shit out on myself. I've logged hundreds of hours in the gyms training others to reach there goals. And guess what? I've never bragged about how awesome I am (or used to be) to another trainer. I've never looked down my nose at another trainer with less experience. I'm willing to pay it forward and share what I've learned, and most important of all....I never stop learning, studying, trying hard to stay on top of what works.

That's all.

Have a great day.

The Ultimate SupersetTraining Workout For Fat Loss

Until recently, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format. Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for a chosen exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes based on your training goals before repeating this set a certain number of times based on your goals (Generally 3 sets of 10 is common). For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain emphasis shorter rest periods are ideal. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.

So, what’s the problem with this format? Well, though straight sets are extremely easy to digest for people new to fitness, they are also an extremely inefficient way to organize your training. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press. They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on TSN, and then make their way back to the bench to hit up their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one exercise. That means you’d need at least in hour to perform four different exercises! This is pure bullshit. If you need more than 1-2 minutes rest, we better have a talk about conditioning.

A much more effective and time saving method to ordering your exercises is using the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). The result is more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

1.) Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

2.) Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

3.) Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though circuits and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe superset training is by the far the best option time and time again.

Here is an example of some superset training we use in our

Ultimate Fat Loss Boot Camp:

Exercise#1a- Squats

Exercise#1b- Dips

Bridge: 100 jump Ropes

Exercise#2a- Pull-ups

Exercise#2b- Leg Raises

Bridge: Jogging Burpees

Perform each superset up to four times for total body fat burning workout.

Basically, in the same 15 minutes that it took to get in three sets on the bench you could have gotten in three sets of two different exercise for a staggering total of 15 work sets! Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery with over four minutes before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain. Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2- Push

Exercise#3- Single-Leg

Exercise#4- Pull

Exercise#5- Core



I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from my boot camps in the weeks to come.

Stay Strong

Paulv

www.ultimatefitnessgyms.com